887: Future Timeline

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Future Timeline

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Title text: Not shown: the approximately 30,000 identical, vaguely hysterical articles titled "WHITE PEOPLE IN [THE US/BRITAIN] TO BECOME MINORITY BY [YEAR]!", which came up for basically any year I put in.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Predictions table needs filling out. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

This comic uses the same strategy as comic 715: Numbers, in which Randall uses Google to search for phrases and then charts the results. This one is charted as a timeline, whereas 715 was charted as line graphs.

"2101 - War Was Beginning" is a reference to the opening narration of video game Zero Wing; the same narration is famous for the internet meme "All your base are belong to us". As there are not any other out and out references in the comic, and the rest are actually results that you can find using Randall's methods (though "War Was Beginning" most likely came up when he googled 2101 as well).

Certain events in this comic, e.g. "Social Security stops running surplus", are repeated multiple times. Also, certain bizarre events, like "Apocalypse occurs", or "Flying cars reach market", happen before rather plausible things, like "HTML 5 Finished". Certain events, like "Japan is a robot-only country" or "Gillette introduces 14-blade razor" may be related to the recurring theme 605: Extrapolating.

The title text is borne of a recurring "white people panic" situation; scaremongers will predict white minority in the very near future in order to get the panicked racist people to pay attention to them (without actually using valid or accepted scientific measurements to back up these claims- panicked racist people don't exactly fact-check very much), while level-headed sociologists will usually come up with more distant, if not nonexistent, dates from their extrapolations.

And as for how accurate the Internet has been, the only predictions to have come true as of January 2015 are that the world population has surpassed 7 billion and that US combat troops have withdrawn from Afghanistan. Canada formally withdrew from the Kyoto protocol in December 2011 and sadly, homelessness is still a problem in Massachusetts. The prediction about GNU/Linux Operating Systems is ambiguous, as Android (based on Linux) constitutes nearly 50% of the mobile OS market and the system dominates among mainframes and some kinds of servers. On the other hand, Linux is a non-presence as an OS for desktop computers. And so far as we're aware, the apocalypse is yet to occur.

This comic has similar features to 1413: Suddenly Popular, 1093: Forget, and 891: Movie Ages.

The predictions

Year	Prediction	Further Details
2012	World population	Ever since the advent of modern medicine and the more efficient agricultural processes developed suit the Industrial Revolution, the human population had been growing at an unprecedented rate. This has caused some people to worry about overpopulation, which would cause a scarcity of resources and overcrowding, and propose various solutions, most of which involve some form of eugenics. 7 billion is a landmark number because it is a multiple of 1 billion.
	Flying cars	For decades, flying cars have been a staple of futuristic sci-fi and technological predictions. So far none of these predictions, which to tend to hover around 5–10 years from whatever the current date is, have come true.
	Canada cuts greenhouse emissions	Currently, the Earth is experiencing an unprecedented period of warming we call global warming, caused in part by greenhouse emissions, which are gases that help trap heat in the atmosphere. Countries have repeatedly gotten together and promised to stop emitting greenhouse gases, but so far they have failed to meet their targets. Canada withdrew
	Apocalypse occurs	The end of a cycle of the Mayan calendar on December 22, 2012 has been used in popular culture as a basis for predicting the end of the world. Amongst other things, this included the film '2012'. Some people took this rather more seriously, and actually believed that the world would end on this date. It didn't.
2013	National debt paid off	For years, the subject of national debt has been a political point of contention, with the Republicans typically favoring paying it all off, and the Democrats more willing to spend to pull the country out of recessions in the economy. Clinton, a Democrat, at one point proposed paying off the debt by 2015.
	Microchipping Americans	Microchips are small computer chips, typically embedded in pets in case they get lost, that contain information about the pet. Some, more irrational, people worry about the government microchipping everyone in an effort to monitor their activities.
	Homelessness ended in MA	In 2008, the Commission To End Homelessness in Massachusetts, under Governor Deval Patrick, proposed a plan to all but eliminate homelessness over the next five years (hence the 2013 end-date on the comic).
	Health care reform law repealed	A health care reform law, popularly known as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010. Ever since, many Republicans have tried (in vain) to repeal it, disliking the idea that government should provide and require healthcare.
2014	US leaves Afghanistan	After the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001, the United States invaded Afghanistan, home of the Taliban, the terrorist organization behind the attacks. The war has gone on since then, with the public growing increasingly tired of it. Public support now favors a withdrawal, but for military and logistical reasons, the government cannot simply move all the troops currently in Afghanistan home right now. For one, that would cause immediate chaos in the country. Therefore, the government instead promises to eventually withdraw all troops, planning on doing so by the end of 2014.
	GNU/Linux dominant OS	An operating system, or OS, is the software that forms the structure in which applications on you computer function. Some typical OSs include Mac OSX, Windows 8, and Linux. The first two of those three are commercial products, sold as a copy by a company. The last is an open-source OS, one that anyone can download and modify free. Typically, open-source software is used by a small number of socially conscious people. It is therefore unrealistic to predict that it will become mainstream in the near future.
2015	New Horizon reaches Pluto	The New Horizon spacecraft is a U.S. space mission designed to go to Pluto and take photographs, collect samples, etc. It is scheduled to reach Pluto in 2015.
	Healthcare law causes hyperinflation	The National Inflation Association warns that the Healthcare Bill to Cause U.S. Hyperinflation By 2015
	Millennium development goals achieved	Millennium Development Goals
2016	Baby boomers begin turning 65	Baby boomers are individuals conceived in the years following World War Two, roughly defined as those born from 1946-1959. This isn't so much a prediction as basic math; if you were born in 1946, you turned 65 in 2011.
	Android takes 38%/45% of market share	Android is a popular operating system for smartphones and tablets, created by Google. Market share is the percentage of all devices that use the product, in this case the Android operating system. These entries together are humorous because they cannot both happen at the same time.
	Windows phone overtakes iOS	iOS is the operating system used by Apple iPhones. At the time of the comic, Apple's mobile OS is much more popular than Microsoft's. The article Randall found predicts that the tables will turn.
2017	China completes lunar mission	The Chinese space program has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
	Social Security stops running surplus	Social Security
	US budget balanced	The United States federal budget outlines how much the US government spends on what in a given fiscal year. The budget is not required to be balanced, and so often more money is spent than is earned in revenue, causing the national debt to rise.
	Newspapers become obsolete and die out	The increasing popularity of internet media and mobile devices has caused a steady decline in the popularity of print media.
	Cosmetic surgery doubles	Cosmetic Surgery
2018	Social Security stops running surplus	Social Security
	Jesus returns to Earth	A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.
2019	Social Security stops running surplus	Social Security
	Every baby has genes mapped at birth	Gene Mapping
2020	Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels	Scientists estimate that more than half of the fossil fuels in existance have already been found and that fossil fuel production will begin to decline due to the scarcity, causing prices to increase. At the same time, improvements in solar technology are causing the prices for solar energy to steadily decrease.
	Keyboards and mice become obsolete	Computer input device are beginning to adopt other methods of input, such as voice commands, touch screens, and eye tracking. While the use of touch screens in particular is gaining widespread use, as of 2014 none has come close to making keyboards and mice obsolete.
	New Tappan Zee bridge constructed	A replacement bridge was anounced in 2008 and is expected to be completed in 2018.
2021	US debt reaches 97% of GDP	US Debt
	US unemployment falls to 2.8%	Unemployment in the United States
	Restored caliphate unifies Middle East	A caliphate is a form of Islamic political-religious leadership, centred around a Caliph, or successor to the prophet Muhammad.
	Lake Mead evaporates	Formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States (measured by maximum capacity). It hasn't reached its capacity since 1983, due to drought and increased demand for water. This could be linked to global warming.
2022	Kilimanjaro snow-free	At 5,895 metres, Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Around 85% of its ice cover disappeared between 1912 and 2011, and it continues to recede.
	HTML 5 finished	HTML 5
	Newspapers become obsolete and die out	This is the second time this prediction has appeared.
2023	Jesus returns to Earth (again)	A number of Christians have attempted to predict the return of Christ (a.k.a. the second coming, the rapture) using clues from The Bible, even though the Bible itself says that "no man can know the date". Several predicted dates have come and gone.
	US debt passes 100% of GDP	US Debt
	All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest	Likely due to a combination of wildfire and deforestation
2024	Atlantis begins to reappear	Atlantis is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea.
	Orangutans extinct in wild	Orangutans are a species of great ape, currently classed as an endangered species, and found only in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.
	China lands men and women on the moon	The Chinese space program has plans for extraterrestrial exploration, including a manned mission to the moon.
	NASA sets up permanent moon base	There is a a lot of hype recently about finally returning to the moon, vis-a-vis Orion.
	Female professionals pass males in pay	There are two possible explanations for this entry: Either it's fear-mongering from misogynists or, more probably, an erroneous extrapolation from the current rate at which female incomes are catching up to male incomes.
2025	World population reaches 8 billion	Given current rates, it seems unlikely it will take this long to hit 8 billion, but advances in birth control options and especially their availability in developing nations may slow the current rate considerably.
	Two billion people face water shortages	http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/28-01-2008/103693-water_crisis-0/
	62 MPG cars introduced	Miles per gallon. 62 MPG is a very good mileage rate at today's standard.
	US power fades	http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-us-power-will-fade-by-2025/
2026	Atlantis emerges completely	Atlantis is the name of a fictional island, which is supposed to have been lost beneath the sea. It seems that it has taken 2 years for it to emerge completely.
	Rock Bands die out	https://bestbands.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/rock-bands-to-die-out-by-2026/
	US debt paid off	US Debt
	Car accidents cease	Presumably, cars will be fully automated and able to pilot themselves at this point and will have fail-safes that prevent collisions currently attributed to user error. Car accidents will always be possible, however, due to mechanical and electrical failures.
	West coast falls into ocean	Most likely due to a significant seismic event
2027	Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train	Japan's railway systems are famous for their "bullet trains", or Shinkansen.
	Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established	http://totse.mattfast1.com/en/technology/space_astronomy_nasa/moonmars.html
	Social Security stops running surplus	Social Security
2028	Tobacco outlawed	Tobacco products (cigarettes and chewing tobacco) have become more and more taboo in modern culture, with most public places and private businesses forbidding their use indoors and near places children congregate.
	40% of coral reefs gone	Many factors have been attributed to the decline of coral reefs, including mining, over fishing, and rising ocean tempteratures.
	US debt paid off	US Debt nytimes.com It’s 2026, and the Debt Is Due By N. GREGORY MANKIW
	Social Security stops running surplus	Social Security
2029	Social Security trust fund exhausted	Social Security
	Computers pass the Turing test	Computers already clear the Turing Test about 30% of the time. Also, it is no coincidence that 2029 is the timeline for Terminator Movies.
	Aging reversed	Manhattan Beach Project to reverse aging by 2029
	Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles	As of 00:00, 5 January 2015 (UTC), Wikipedia has over 34 million total articles, if all languages are included. Randall may have meant the English language Wikipedia, which has only 4.686 million articles, as of 00:00, 5 January 2015 (UTC).
2030	Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging	WWF press release - Climate Change Speeds Up Amazon’s Destruction referring to a report on the Amazon's vicious cycles
	Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels	From the Global Cancer Burden to Nearly Double by 2030 article about the article from page 37 of Global Cancer Facts & Figures 2nd edition.
	Arctic ice-free in summer	http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-arctic-ice-free-gone-video-ap.html
2031	Computers controlled by thought	http://www.gizmag.com/future-mobile-technology/17554/
	Realtors replaced by technology	http://agbeat.com/editorials/will-realtors-be-replaced-by-technology-by-the-year-2031/
	Social Security trust fund exhausted	http://crfb.org/blogs/cbo-95-percent-confident-social-security-trust-fund-runs-out-25-years
2032	"Big One" hits San Francisco	http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Quake-scientists-predict-Big-One-likely-by-2032-2653745.php San Franscisco is located on the San Andreas Fault, which is predicted to produce a magnitude 7+ earthquake in the 'near future'. This event is referred to as "The Big One".
	US elects first married lesbian President	http://4chandata.org/g/In-what-major-ways-do-you-think-the-world-of-2032-will-be-different-from-that-of-today-a20155
	Entire world converted to Christianity	http://www.goddiscussion.com/38920/christian-domininionsts-to-take-over-the-world-by-2032/
2033	Kilimanjaro ice disappears	http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/02/idUSL2210825
	India becomes superpower	https://www.facebook.com/pages/India-A-SuperPower-by-2033/151177191568098 ?
	Europe reaches Mars	http://www.spacedaily.com/news/esa-general-03zb.html
2034	US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple	U.S. diabetes cases to double, costs triple by 2034
	US builds autonomous robot army	Unmanned Systems article, about the 2009-2034 Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap publication (details at Amazon)
2035	80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources	From fact sheet on Obama's State of the Union
	Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size	From an IPCC report on The Himalayan glaciers that has been analysed in quite some depth. See for example detailed article on an anatomy of IPCC’s mistake.
	Arctic sea lane opens	Arctic sea lane could open by 2035
2036	80% of US has access to high-speed rail	Obama: 80 Percent of Americans Should Have Access to High Speed Rail By 2036
	Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth	http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/ 99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a probability of up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029.
2037	Arctic ice-free in September	Arctic sea ice decline
	Social Security trust fund exhausted	Social Security
2038	32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos	03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038, the value of time_t rolls over, that is it will return to zero. time_t is the computing standard measurement of time, it is a count of the number of seconds since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970. time_t us used by most computer systems to store date and time information. It is recommended that new software should convert to a 64 bit time_t, indeed most operating systems designed to run on 64-bit hardware already use signed 64-bit time_t integers. This would give an epoch of 15:30:08 UTC on 4 December 292,277,026,596 (292 billion years away). Of course, legacy systems may not be upgradable so action taken now should prevent this becoming a problem closer to 2038...
	"Big One" hits California	`The big one' likely to hit by 2038
2039	US population hits 400 Million	U.S. Population Projected to Hit 400 Million in 2039
	Severe heat waves become commonplace	Heat waves and extremely high temperatures could be commonplace in the U.S. by 2039, Stanford study finds
	Scientology becomes majority religion in US	Essay: Scientology in the year 2039
2040	Arctic summers ice-free	Arctic Summer Could be Ice-Free by 2040
	Nanotechnology makes humans immortal	Nanotech could make humans immortal by 2040, futurist says
2041	Social Security trust fund exhausted	Social Security
2043	World population passes 9 Billion	Population growth
2044	Mankind genetically engineered to be happy	Premise of the movie Zenith - further details are in the film review for Zenith
	Childhood obesity reaches 100%	100-Percent Childhood Obesity Predicted by 2044
2045	Humans and machines merge	Ray Kurzweil predicts of 'singularity' which will lead to race of super intelligent beings
2046	World's natural resources depleted	Peak uncertainty, when will we run out of fossil fuels?
2047	World ruled by banks and corporations	Future Schlock - the story of a world turned upside down in 2047
	Tobacco industry fails	Experts: Big Tobacco dead by 2047, possibly sooner
	US begins using autonomous attack drones	US Air Force prepares drones to end era of fighter pilots
2048	Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing	WWF report on Unsustainable fishing
	Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle	RyansWorld: Bathing Suits of the Future
	Entire US population overweight	Article archive - Scientists Say Thin People Face Extinction in United States: Everyone Will Be Overweight by 2048 – And Less Smart
2049	$1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity	TechNotes: Trends in Technology
	Singularity occurs	The Singularity Is Near
	Fishing industry collapses	This tends to happen when your food-stock is extinct - see WWF report on Unsustainable fishing
2050	80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers	80% of world population will soon be in urban areas
	China controls space
	Sex with robots possible	Forecast: Sex and Marriage with Robots by 2050
	Cars banned from European cities	EU to ban cars from cities by 2050
	One million species extinct from climate change	By 2050 Warming to Doom Million Species, Study Says
2051	Atmosphere escapes into space	[A http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-outdoor-photos/255705-have-you-ever-seen-fallstreak-hole.html conspiracy theory] relating to Fallstreak hole or hole punch clouds.
2052	Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue	Social Security
2053	US budget balanced	OMB releases long-term projections for the FY2015 budget proposal
	Majority of Americans in prison	'Beyond Bricks And Bars' As Jails Overflow, The Lock-'em-up Credo Is Drawing Unlikely Criticism - From Prison Officials Themselves
	Cars driven by dogs	This has already occured!
2054	Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem	Hunger Could Be 'Unimaginable' Global Problem By 2054
2055	Atmospheric CO2 doubled	Carbon Mitigation Initiative: Stabilization Wedges
	Oil runs out	Peak uncertainty, when will we run out of fossil fuels?
	Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted	5 Valuable Metals That Could Vanish by 2055
2056	RFID-tagged driverless cars	RFID-tagged driverless cars on roads by 2056
	Robots given same rights as humans	Robots Given Same Rights As Humans By 2056
2057	150 Japanese settlers on Mars	Will Japan colonize Mars?
	Colorado River runs dry	Colorado River Reservoirs Could Bottom Out From Warming
2058	Smoking ends in New Zealand	Smoking to die out in NZ by 2058
2059	Humans have domesticated robots	Virtual necking, demography, and robots
2060	Human race lives in peace	ARAS vision/mission
	Extreme droughts across much of Earth	Extreme drought across most of Earth by 2060
	Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C	Avoiding dangerous climate change
	Oil runs out again	Oil may run out by 2060: HSBC
2061	Halley's comet returns	Halley's comet returns to the inner solar system (the vicinity of earth and the sun) every 75.3 years. The last time it was near earth was in 1985-1986. When it next returns, its closest approach to the sun will occur on 28 July 2061.
2062	Uganda hosts World Cup	Uganda to host world cup in 2062
	The Jetsons
2063	First human clones reach adulthood
	Population of Moon reaches 100,000
	Population of Mars reaches 10,000
	Spacecraft exceed speed of light	Physics as currently understood states that it is impossible to exceed the speed of light. A monumental shift in our physics would have had to have occurred for this to come true. This is a reference to the 8th Star Trek feature Film: "Star Trek: First Contact" where Zefram Cochrane performs the first human Warp Flight on April 5, 2063.
2064	Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
2065	Last coral reefs die out
	Chernobyl cleanup complete
2066	Cyprus achieves its goal
2067	Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
	Redheads go extinct
2068	Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
	Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem
	Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
2069	Public masturbation legalized
2070	World population peaks
	City-scale flooding disasters
	60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
2071	Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C
	World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C
2072	US retirement age is set to 75
2073	Oceans do not rise one foot
2074	Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
	Supertyphoons hit Japan
2075	US retirement age set to 69
2076	Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
	Social Security trust fund exhausted	Social Security
2078	Newspapers become obsolete and die out
2079	US debt reaches 716% of GDP	US Debt
	Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
	Floods commonplace
	Religion marginalized
2080	Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
	UK population doubles
2082	World population declines to one billion
2084	Robot policemen introduced
2085	US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
2088	Japan becomes all-robot country
2089	World halts fossil fuel use	Fossil Fuels
2090	Global warming hits 7 °C
	Global warming hits 4 °C
2100	Global warming around 5-7 °C
	Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
	Joshua trees nearly extinct
	Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
	Germany tropical
	Emperor penguins extinct
	Arctic permafrost thaws
	Rising seas flood coastal cities
	Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
	All coral reefs gone
	Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor	Each iteration of the Gillette line or safety razors has one more blade than the previous one. MadTV has also parodied this.
2101	WAR WAS BEGINNING	References Zero Wing, a 1981 Japanese computer game set in 2101, famous for poorly translated English and the source for "All your base are belong to us".

Transcript

THE FUTURE

According to Google search results

Events for each year determined by the first page of Google search results for the phrases:

"By <year>"	"In year"
"By the year <year>"	"In the year <year>"
"Will * by the year <year>"	"Will * in the year <year>"
"In <year>, * will"	"By <year>, * will"

2012	World population reaches 7 billion
	Flying cars reach market
	Canada cuts greenhouse emissions to 6% below 1990 levels as per Kyoto
	Apocalypse occurs
2013	National debt paid off through President Clinton's plans
	Microchipping of all Americans begins
	Homelessness ended in Massachusetts
	Health care reform law repealed
2014	US leaves Afghanistan
	GNU/Linux becomes dominant OS
2015	New Horizons reaches Pluto
	Health care law causes hyperinflation
	192 UN member nations achieve millennium development goals: Extreme poverty and hunger eradicated Universal primary education implemented Women empowered, gender equality reached Environmental stability ensured
2016	Baby boomers begin turning 65
	Android takes 38% of the smartphone market
	Android takes 45% of the smartphone market
	Windows Phone overtakes iOS in smartphones
2017	China completes unmanned Lunar sample-return mission
	Social Security stops running surplus
	US budget balanced
	Newspapers become obsolete and die out
	Cosmetic surgery doubles
2018	Social Security stops running surplus
	Jesus returns to Earth
2019	Social Security stops running surplus
	Every baby has genes mapped at birth
2020	Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels
	Keyboards and mice become obsolete
	New Tappan Zee bridge constructed
2021	US debt reaches 97% of GDP
	US unemployment falls to 2.8%
	Restored caliphate unifies Middle East
	Lake Mead evaporates
2022	Kilimanjaro snow-free
	HTML 5 finished
	Newspapers become obsolete and die out
2023	Jesus returns to Earth (again)
	US debt passes 100% of GDP
	All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest
2024	Atlantis begins to reappear
	Orangutans extinct in wild
	China lands men and women on the moon
	NASA sets up permanent moon base
	Female professionals pass males in pay
2025	World population reaches 8 billion
	Two billion people face water shortages
	62 MPG cars introduced
	US power fades
2026	Atlantis emerges completely
	Rock Bands die out
	US debt paid off
	Car accidents cease
	West coast falls into ocean
2027	Japan introduces new fastest Maglev train
	Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony is established
	Social Security stops running surplus
2028	Tobacco outlawed
	40% of coral reefs gone
	US debt paid off
	Social Security stops running surplus
2029	Social Security trust fund exhausted
	Computers pass the Turing test
	Aging reversed
	Wikipedia reaches 30 Million articles
2030	Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging
	Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels
	Arctic ice-free in summer
2031	Computers controlled by thought
	Realtors replaced by technology
	Social Security trust fund exhausted
2032	"Big One" hits San Francisco
	US elects first married lesbian President
	Entire world converted to Christianity
2033	Kilimanjaro ice disappears
	India becomes superpower
	Europe reaches Mars
2034	US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple
	US builds autonomous robot army
2035	80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources
	Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size
	Arctic sea lane opens
2036	80% of US has access to high-speed rail
	Asteroid Apophis misses/hits Earth
2037	Arctic ice-free in September
	Social Security trust fund exhausted
2038	32-bit timestamps roll over, causing Y2K-level chaos
	"Big One" hits California
2039	US population hits 400 Million
	Severe heat waves become commonplace
	Scientology becomes majority religion in US
2040	Arctic summers ice-free
	Nanotechnology makes humans immortal
2041	Social Security trust fund exhausted
2042
2043	World population passes 9 Billion
2044	Mankind genetically engineered to be happy
	Childhood obesity reaches 100%
2045	Humans and machines merge
2046	World's natural resources depleted
2047	World ruled by banks and corporations
	Tobacco industry fails
	US begins using autonomous attack drones
2048	Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing
	Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle
	Entire US population overweight
2049	$1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity
	Singularity occurs
	Fishing industry collapses
2050	80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers
	China controls space
	Sex with robots possible
	Cars banned from European cities
	One million species extinct from climate change
2051	Atmosphere escapes into space
2052	Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue
2053	US budget balanced
	Majority of Americans in prison
	Cars driven by dogs
2054	Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem
2055	Atmospheric CO2 doubled
	Oil runs out
	Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted
2056	RFID-tagged driverless cars
	Robots given same rights as humans
2057	150 Japanese settlers on Mars
	Colorado River runs dry
2058	Smoking ends in New Zealand
2059	Humans have domesticated robots
2060	Human race lives in peace
	Extreme droughts across much of Earth
	Global temperature rise reaches 4 °C
	Oil runs out again
2061	Halley's comet returns
2062	Uganda hosts World Cup
	The Jetsons
2063	First human clones reach adulthood
	Population of Moon reaches 100,000
	Population of Mars reaches 10,000
	Spacecraft exceed speed of light
2064	Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels
2065	Last coral reefs die out
	Chernobyl cleanup complete
2066	Cyprus achieves its goal
2067	Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV
	Redheads go extinct
2068	Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering
	Lord Jesus rules Earth from throne in Jerusalem
	Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water
2069	Public masturbation legalized
2070	World population peaks
	City-scale flooding disasters
	60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources
2071	Europe's temperatures rise by 3 °C
	World summer temperatures rise by 5 °C
2072	US retirement age is set to 75
2073	Oceans do not rise one foot
2074	Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million
	Supertyphoons hit Japan
2075	US retirement age set to 69
2076	Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors
	Social Security trust fund exhausted
2077
2078	Newspapers become obsolete and die out
2079	US debt reaches 716% of GDP
	Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest
	Floods commonplace
	Religion marginalized
2080	Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP
	UK population doubles
2081
2082	World population declines to one billion
2083
2084	Robot policemen introduced
2085	US deficit reaches 62% of GDP
2086
2087
2088	Japan becomes all-robot country
2089	World halts fossil fuel use
2090	Global warming hits 7 °C
	Global warming hits 4 °C
2091
2092
2093
2094
2095
2096
2097
2098
2099
2100	Global warming around 5-7 °C
	Sea levels have risen by a meter or more
	Joshua trees nearly extinct
	Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous
	Germany tropical
	Emperor penguins extinct
	Arctic permafrost thaws
	Rising seas flood coastal cities
	Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts
	All coral reefs gone
	Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor
2101	WAR WAS BEGINNING

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Discussion

The explanation is really messed up. You can hardly tell where one year ends and the next begins. Can someone who's better at editing than me fix this, perhaps by putting a line across the page after each year? GizmoDude (talk) 19:11, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

This one slipped under the transcripting radar. I may do it. --Quicksilver (talk) 20:52, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

Do not talk about radars, just do it. The transcript is done right now, but the explain section still does need a big radar!--Dgbrt (talk) 20:20, 18 August 2013 (UTC)

Find the song! I have no idea so far but the repeating phrase "Social security trust fund exhausted" should match a refrain.--Dgbrt (talk) 20:20, 18 August 2013 (UTC)

They now have the dogs driving cars... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWAK0J8Uhzk Let's not wait for 2053.173.245.54.90 21:01, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

Out of curiosity (I'm new to the standards of explainxkcd), are out of date pages considered incomplete? Or is it up to editors to chose when to update a pages explination. I would assume the former, except that would make maintaining the pages significantly more difficult. Also, referencing the Linux takes over. Since Android is now a part of the libux kernel,should thia be changed? It would definently put linux over the 50% mark. Mrmakeit (talk) 05:03, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

Pages can not become out of date, as they refrence the meening of the comic at the time of creation. 108.162.216.209 15:24, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

I would change the 2nd paragraph to say that the entirety of the search results are a super long set-up and "All your base..." is the punch-line. Smperron (talk) 08:46, 10 November 2014 (UTC)

I would correct the entry in 2014 that says that the Taliban are the organisation responsible for the September 11th attacks. The more accurate explanation would be that The US believed Al Qaeda (the real organisation responsible) were hiding out in Afghanistan and that defeating the Taliban, and bringing stability to the country was an important stepping stone towards finding Osama Bin Laden. Of course we now know he was in Pakistan all along, but still that was the original rationale for invading Afghanistan.--141.101.98.192 15:27, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

This further details stuff is wrong about the comic. The lines are just random answers to Google searches. There is no explanation. I move to remove this table, or convert it into links or summaries of the articles in the links. This sucks. It is good enough as it is now without the table (as the table is random and the explanations on the table are incorrect. 108.162.216.209 22:12, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Let's get to work on the table then. I'm adding suitable references to incomplete sections to aid as jumping off points, from where further expansion can be done on a case-by-case basis. Can you provide some inspiration as to which explanations are most egregiously in need of correction? Pmw57 (talk) 01:44, 8 January 2015 (UTC)

As of 2014 I have noticed that a lot of US sites are moving from html to closed sources such as Adobe so the quote: "The prediction about GNU/Linux Operating Systems is ambiguous" is now fighting through government agencies. Users of Linux trying to access the volcano archive (once supplied by listserv using linux) now have to get access via Windows machines. This has to be the saddest computing news in a long time. Weatherlawyer (talk) 08:19, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

“The prediction about GNU/Linux Operating Systems is ambiguous, as Android (based on Linux) constitutes nearly 50% of the mobile OS market” — GNU/Linux refers to an operating system consisting of the GNU userland toolchain over the Linux kernel. Android is based on Linux but not GNU, therefore, it is irrelevant in GNU/Linux context. 108.162.230.107 11:18, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Can we change this to Incomplete explanation of the month? Foldark (talk) 22:03, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

2145:War... War never changes (the Great War happens) 173.245.54.252 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Is it just my reading, or does it say "ACHEIVE" instead of "ACHIEVE" where it says something about 192 UN member nations achieving millennium development goals in the comic? (It's under 2015.) --172.68.55.70 21:45, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

No, it reads like this for me too. (Even on the original comic page, where I'd expect it to have been long fixed already.) --172.68.11.87 19:35, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

Some of these predictions seem very realistic. 162.158.59.172 00:22, 25 December 2016 (UTC) Jawa457

I am not sure if this needs to be added or not since it was not happening when the comic was produced and it is not the government doing it but a private tech company microchipping its employees in 2017 Google results since I do not know which news articles will disappear over time. 162.158.62.231 12:03, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

I think we can delete incomplete tag. -- -- 1337-PI (talk) 04:21, 26 February 2021 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I feel it would have been funny, if a bit confusing, if the first few years numbers after 2037/2038 started referring to, e.g. 1970, 1971, before suddenly "Year 2038 bug finally exterminated". You know it's gonna happen... at least to some poor schmucks somewhere in the world.--Twisted Code (talk) 12:52, 22 November 2022 (UTC)

The link is bad

Here's a working one. 162.158.93.27 14:57, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

How do I add an Incomplete tag to the top? It's now 2024 so more stuff needs to be added. -- Danger Kitty (talk) 20:18, 1 February 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

You just need the {{incomplete}} template.

e.g. {{incomplete|This page will need updating to account for facts known up until the start of 2024}}, but you might instead prefer a version that follows a comment format more of Created by THE 2024 EQUIVALENT OF A BOT - Needs to be updated to the current year. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. to blend in with the 'starter' version currently used and then tweaked... 172.70.90.92 21:12, 1 February 2024 (UTC)